Through tears, outgoing top White House aide says goodbye
WASHINGTON — (AP) — Outgoing White House chief of staff Ron Klain burst into tears Wednesday as he talked about his boss, President Joe Biden, and his decades of work with him. “This is the best job I've ever had,” said Klain, immediately crying after he said he couldn't promise a tear-free speech. The East Room was packed with White House staff, aides and Cabinet members there to send Klain off, a Biden loyalist who has worked for the president off and on for 36 years. “I learned everything I know about how to be a good father from Joe Biden,” said Klain, the father of three, choking up. Klain is succeeded by Jeff Zients, who led the administration's COVID-19 response.
wftv.comThrough tears, outgoing top White House aide says goodbye
Outgoing White House chief of staff Ron Klain burst into tears Wednesday as he talked about his boss, President Joe Biden, and his decades of work with him. Biden gently patted him on the back. The East Room was packed with White House staff, aides and Cabinet members there to send Klain off, a Biden loyalist who has worked for the president off and on for 36 years.
news.yahoo.comJeff Zients to serve as Biden's next chief of staff
President Biden is expected to name Jeff Zients as his next chief of staff, replacing Ron Klain. He had previously served as the head of the administration's Covid-19 response efforts. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports from the White House.
news.yahoo.comWho is Jeff Zients, Biden’s likely choice as new White House chief of staff?
President Joe Biden is expected to name Jeff Zients, who was an Obama administration official and Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution head, to succeed Ron Klain as the next White House chief of staff, several media outlets are reporting. Here’s what we know about Biden’s likely next chief of staff. He was chairman, chief executive officer and chief operating officer of the Advisory Board Company and chairman of the Corporate Executive Board. Zients co-chaired Biden’s presidential transition team in 2020. Klain asked Zients to prepare for staff departures following the 2022 midterm elections and help identify potential replacements.
wftv.comTop Biden aide expected to leave White House soon
No member of Biden’s Cabinet has stepped down, in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s White House, with frequent staff turmoil and other crises.
The White House did not return calls or emails seeking comment on Klain’s expected exit.
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Top Biden aide Ron Klain expected to soon leave White House
— (AP) — White House chief of staff Ron Klain, who has spent more than two years as President Joe Biden's top aide, is preparing to leave his job in the coming weeks, according to a person familiar with Klain's plans. His tenure as chief of staff is the longest for a Democratic president in modern times. The White House did not return calls or emails seeking comment on Klain’s expected exit. Now that Republicans have regained a majority in the House, the White House is preparing to shift to a more defensive posture. GOP lawmakers are planning multiple investigations into the Biden administration, examining everything from the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to U.S. border policy.
wftv.comBiden outpacing Trump, Obama with diverse judicial nominees
WASHINGTON — (AP) — For the Biden White House, a quartet of four female judges in Colorado encapsulates its mission when it comes to the federal judiciary. The 97 from the Biden presidency includes Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, that court's first Black woman, as well as 28 circuit court judges and 68 district court judges. Three out of every four judges tapped by Biden and confirmed by the Senate in the past two years were women. The White House prioritized judicial nominations from the start, with Biden transition officials soliciting names of potential picks from Democratic senators in late 2020. But cases like Pocan's have been rare, Durbin said, and other influential Republicans are affording some level of deference to the Biden White House when it comes to judges.
wftv.comAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells pissed-off Swifties to demand the Justice Department break up Ticketmaster after Taylor Swift tickets debacle
"Ticketmaster monopoly got you down? Take action," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said after the general sale for Taylor Swift Eras Tour was cancelled.
news.yahoo.comWhite House apology over ethics violation shows shift in tone from Trump
She was referring to violations of the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that prohibits federal officials from engaging in political activities. "I recall in the White House when we would get Hatch Act violations, that was a badge of honor. It was a joke in the White House," Trump's former communications director Stephanie Grisham said last year. A month before, he had announced that he was running for the White House. Tonight a candidate tore down that wall and wielded power for his own campaign," argued former White House ethics counselor Walt Shaub.
wftv.comBiden's top aide is admonished for violating the Hatch Act
Top aide Ron Klain "got it wrong this time" and will be more careful, the White House said Thursday. The memo dated Wednesday said Klain ran afoul of the Hatch Act, which prohibits government officials from using their official roles to influence elections, including supporting candidates, while acting in their official capacities. The message Klain retweeted on May 22 from STRIKE PAC, a Democratic group, was about delivering infant formula to Americans. No disciplinary action will be pursued and the office, an independent government watchdog that monitors violations of the Hatch Act, considers the matter closed. "I have to be careful of what I say, because we do respect the Hatch Act here in this administration,” she said.
wftv.comWhite House chief of staff warned on Hatch Act violation
The memo dated Wednesday said Ron Klain ran afoul of the Hatch Act, which prohibits government officials from using their official roles to influence elections, including supporting candidates, while acting in their official capacities. The message Klain retweeted on May 22 from STRIKE PAC, a Democratic group, was about delivering infant formula to Americans. No disciplinary action will be pursued and the office, an independent government watchdog that monitors violations of the Hatch Act, considers the matter closed. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre often cites the Hatch Act in deflecting political questions during news briefings. "I have to be careful of what I say, because we do respect the Hatch Act here in this administration,” she said.
wftv.comBiden's top aide is admonished for violating the Hatch Act
President Joe Biden's chief of staff violated the law by retweeting a political message on his government Twitter account, and a warning letter was sent to him, according to a memo from the Office of Special Counsel. Top aide Ron Klain “got it wrong this time” and will be more careful, the White House said Thursday. The memo dated Wednesday said Klain ran afoul of the Hatch Act, which prohibits government officials from using their official roles to influence elections, including supporting candidates, while acting in their official capacities.
news.yahoo.comBiden expected to announce new release from oil stockpile
The strategic reserves are at their lowest levels since 1984 after Biden in March announced the release of 180 million barrels over six months. Bloomberg News reported Monday that the administration is moving toward an additional release of 10 million to 15 million barrels. Biden still faces political headwinds because of gas prices. The hard math for Biden is that oil production has yet to return to its pre-pandemic level of roughly 13 million barrels a day. It's about a million barrels a day shy of that level.
wftv.comBiden looks to increase oil supplies ahead of midterm voting
WASHINGTON — (AP) — Joe Biden — a president who wants to move past fossil fuels — is rushing to increase oil supplies ahead of next month's midterm elections. Still, reserves are at their lowest levels since 1984 after Biden in March announced the release of 180 million barrels over six months. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss plans publicly ahead of a White House announcement. Bloomberg News reported Monday that the administration is moving toward an additional release of 10 million to 15 million barrels. Bernstein suggested to Fox News Sunday that the reserve is large enough that the White House could tap it again.
wftv.comMark Meadows told incoming Biden chief of staff Ron Klain during the presidential transition that 'no president' received a daily intelligence briefing: book
According to The NYT, Trump often eschewed reading through detailed intelligence reports but was attracted to graphics and other data-driven visuals.
news.yahoo.comPresident Biden vows to check Russian aggression, fight inflation
Addressing a concerned nation and anxious world, President Joe Biden has vowed in his first State of the Union address to check Russian aggression in Ukraine, tame soaring U.S. inflation and deal with the fading but still dangerous coronavirus.
US to launch trade talks on COVID-19 vaccine distribution
Two White House officials say the U.S. trade representative will begin talks in the World Trade Organization on ways to overcome intellectual property issues that are keeping poorer countries from making their own generic version of critically needed COVID-19 vaccines.
Biden to hold first Cabinet meeting amid infrastructure push
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON – Joe Biden will convene his first Cabinet meeting on Thursday, a presidential rite of passage that will be used to promote his new infrastructure plan. Ad“The meetings can help align priorities, build morale, and allow Cabinet members to develop relationships with colleagues who they don’t normally see,” Lu said. The White House has highlighted that this Cabinet is the most diverse in history. In normal times, scheduling an in-person Cabinet meeting would require weeks, if not months, of planning to block off time in the travel schedules of the various principals. The Cabinet members will soon begin to fan out across the country to pitch both the COVID-19 relief and infrastructure plans, officials said.
Path from Clinton to Biden takes U-turn on debt, trade, more
Biden is taking the opposite approach of the Clinton administration to help the economy. White House aides are comparing the scope of Biden's policy ambitions to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's after the Great Depression. Biden was probably the best about this.”AdCelinda Lake conducted polling for both the Clinton and Biden campaigns. The Biden administration is now challenging China, which never embraced the values of democracy as trade advocates once believed it would. But he sees the Biden administration as pursuing new policies to help workers.
For media, Biden news conference notable for what's missing
President Joe Biden listens to a question during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, March 25, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)NEW YORK – Joe Biden's first presidential news conference was notable for what was missing after predecessor Donald Trump: no contentious exchanges with reporters, no Fox News and no questions about COVID-19. Before taking a question, Biden announced he was setting a new goal of having 200 million vaccine doses for the coronavirus administered during his first 100 days in office. Trump on Thursday accused the White House reporters of throwing “softballs” to Biden. AdThat quickly became an issue at Fox, where the chyron “Biden Snubs Fox News during First News Conf” was put onscreen.
Biden's top aides unlikely to qualify for relief payments
WASHINGTON – At least one group in America is unlikely to get any money from President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic rescue plan — his own top aides. Most of Biden’s senior West Wing advisers made far more than the threshold that would qualify them for direct payments from the president’s COVID-19 relief bill, according to White House financial disclosure forms released Saturday. Others in the West Wing — whose positions don't require Senate confirmation — have had deep ties to the business world. He was listed as having a salary of $1.8 million, according to his disclosure form. Brian Deese, head of the national economic council, was previously global head of sustainable investing at BlackRock, according to his disclosure.
President Biden wants everyone vaccine-eligible by May 1
President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 pandemic during a prime-time address from the East Room of the White House, Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Washington. “While it was different for everyone, we all lost something," Biden said of the sacrifices of the yearlong-and-counting pandemic. In his Thursday night address, Biden said that as vaccine supplies continue to increase, he will direct states and territories to make all adults eligible for vaccination by May 1. Biden had originally planned to sign the bill on Friday, but it arrived at the White House more quickly than anticipated. Almost exactly one year ago, President Donald Trump addressed the nation to mark the WHO’s declaration of a global pandemic.
Biden aims for quicker shots, ‘independence from this virus’
President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 pandemic during a prime-time address from the East Room of the White House, Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Washington. “While it was different for everyone, we all lost something," Biden said of the sacrifices of the yearlong-and-counting pandemic. In his Thursday night address, Biden said that as vaccine supplies continue to increase, he will direct states and territories to make all adults eligible for vaccination by May 1. Biden had originally planned to sign the bill on Friday, but it arrived at the White House more quickly than anticipated. Trump, it was later revealed, acknowledged that he had been deliberately “playing down” the threat of the virus.
Biden White House: keeping control of the daily message
President Joe Biden participates in a roundtable discussion on a coronavirus relief package in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, March 5, 2021. It reflects a White House media strategy meant both to reserve major media set-pieces for the celebration of a legislative victory and to limit unforced errors from a historically gaffe-prone politician. In a sharp contrast with the previous administration, the White House is exerting extreme message discipline, empowering staff to speak but doing so with caution. The volume has been turned so low in the Biden White House that they need to worry about whether anyone is listening," said Frank Sesno, former head of George Washington University's school of media. “Presidential press conferences are not on the top of the agenda for Americans who are worried about COVID and the economic disaster that has befallen so many families,” he said.
Biden White House: message discipline, no news conference
President Joe Biden participates in a roundtable discussion on a coronavirus relief package in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, March 5, 2021. It reflects a White House media strategy meant both to reserve major media set-pieces for the celebration of a legislative victory and to limit unforced errors from a historically gaffe-prone politician. In a sharp contrast with the previous administration, the White House is exerting extreme message discipline, empowering staff to speak but doing so with caution. The volume has been turned so low in the Biden White House that they need to worry about whether anyone is listening," said Frank Sesno, former head of George Washington University's school of media. “Presidential press conferences are not on the top of the agenda for Americans who are worried about COVID and the economic disaster that has befallen so many families,” he said.
Eager to act, Biden and Democrats leave Republicans behind
But lawmakers and advocates are racing to capitalize on House rules that allow any bill to bypass lengthy committee hearings if brought forward by April 1. Senate Republicans are now threatening similar delays. Ad“We’ll be fighting this in every way that we can,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said about the COVID-19 package. McConnell wants Senate Republicans to vote in lockstep against the virus aid, calling it a bloated liberal wish list, following the lead of House Republicans who gave it zero support. That leaves Democrats negotiating with themselves on the COVID-19 package, with Biden warning they won’t like every aspect as he courts centrists.
Budget nominee Tanden withdraws nomination amid opposition
Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden's nominee for Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), appears beofre a Senate Committee on the Budget hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden's pick to head the Office of Management and Budget, Neera Tanden, has withdrawn her nomination after she faced opposition from key Democratic and Republican senators for her controversial tweets. Thirteen of the 23 Cabinet nominees requiring Senate approval have been confirmed, most with strong bipartisan support. But without Manchin’s support, the White House was left scrambling to find a Republican to support her. White House chief of staff Ron Klain initially insisted the administration was “fighting our guts out” for her.
White House aide resigns after threatening reporter
In this Feb. 9, 2021 photo, White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo listens as press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON – White House deputy press secretary T.J. Ducklo has resigned, the day after he was suspended for issuing a sexist and profane threat to a journalist seeking to cover his relationship with another reporter. In a statement Saturday, Ducklo said he was “devastated to have embarrassed and disappointed my White House colleagues and President Biden.”Ad“No words can express my regret, my embarrassment and my disgust for my behavior,” he said. White House press secretary Jen Psaki faced a flurry of questions about the controversy Friday, with reporters highlighting Biden's comments and questioning the decision to merely suspend Ducklo for a week. She pointed to apologies made by top members of the White House communications team and Ducklo himself to the Politico reporter as ample moves reflecting the seriousness of the situation.
Tight supply creates reluctance over federal vaccine sites
With vaccine supplies running tight, they want assurances that the doses will come from a separate federal supply and not their own. Eager to protect more people against the coronavirus, health officials in Oklahoma jumped at the chance to add large, federally supported vaccination sites. The Biden administration's virus response plan calls for opening 100 federally supported vaccination sites by the end of February. “We just opened our first two federal vaccination centers, in California this week," Klain told NBC News. Officials in New York and Texas said the federal government told them that the vaccines distributed in the federal sites there would not count against the states’ allocations.
White House aide suspended for threatening reporter
In this Feb. 9, 2021 photo, White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo listens as press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington. Ducklo has been suspended for a week without pay after he reportedly issued a sexist and profane threat to a journalist seeking to cover his relationship with another reporter. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON – White House deputy press secretary T.J. Ducklo has been suspended for a week without pay after he reportedly issued a sexist and profane threat to a journalist seeking to cover his relationship with another reporter. Psaki said in a statement earlier Friday that Ducklo had been suspended without pay with the approval of White House chief of staff Ron Klain. But the Biden White House sought to strike a more cordial and professional tone with the Washington press corps from the start, installing a cadre of seasoned Washington communicators led by Psaki.